Know a lot about everything? Show off at LSO's Trivia Nights

LAFAYETTE — There are two actors who have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor who have also appeared as villains in Steven Seagal movies. Name either one.

This golfer is known as The Black Knight.

What common expression is used to refer to the horseshoe-shaped zone found along the Pacific rim where approximately 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur?

Sound like trivial knowledge? That’s the idea.

Nick Rogers may be Lafayette’s best-known trivia expert. He has graduated from local bar trivia to attending tournaments around the country.

Thus he was the logical choice to take on the mantra of Quiz Master for the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra Trivia Nights. They are fundraisers for the Prelude Project, an initiative by the LSO to reach out to a younger audience.

Trivia Nights give those with lots of excess knowledge about every possible subject a chance to flex their competitive muscles, sharing what they know — or often, what they don’t — about a variety of subjects. If you’re a devotee of a particular genre of music, film, literature or sports, then this is your opportunity to show off all that acquired knowledge — which doesn’t seem so useless when there are prizes at stake.

Trivia evenings can feel competitive, a little cut-throat even. But it’s all in fun. Rogers says he has seen opposing teams each with one half of a couple. The competition is heated, but always in a good-natured way.

Full disclosure: I have been part of the winning team at the LSO Trivia Night — more than once. My favorite rivals? A team of former Journal & Courier employees who always, always make my team fight for the title. I mean, who is going to challenge Bob Bloom on movie trivia?

The popularity of television quiz shows like “Jeopardy” or “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” speak to the public’s fascination with trivia questions. But unlike those shows, most local trivia events are played with teams. At the LSO event, teams are up to eight people, which Rogers says is ideal.

“You can have enough people that you can have specialties in different areas but not so many that people are arguing over answers,” he says.

Questions run the gamut from history to pop culture. And there are always, always some surprises — an entire category on Steven Seagal, for example.

At LSO Trivia, Rogers chooses some categories — and they range from sports to television to movies and books, or a hodge-podge. He throws in history and science, comic books and famous people.

“When I’m putting categories together, I think what haven’t we done yet, what has a broad enough reach,” Rogers says. “If I don’t know anything about biochemistry, can I reasonably come up with the answer?”

Included, too, are audience choice categories: Players vote — with cash — on their favorite category. Which can be done strategically, with teams either voting for a category they think they can win or by voting for one they figure no one else will know.

My team tried that, with Vice Presidential History; it didn’t win. We were there the night Rogers included Biochemistry. And there was a team made up of Purdue biochemists, who stuffed that jar. You can guess how that went.

“There was a lot of booing for biochemistry,” Rogers recalls with a laugh.

Rogers is creative with his categories. He has included, for example, “Add an e, change the movie” — “Batman” to Bateman, or “The Godfather” to Godfeather. Or “Local Before and After,” with answers such as From Frank C. Arganbright Genealogy Center.

“They’re always fun if you can make your way to that second answer,” Rogers says.

Always included, too, is a category of “Name That Tune,” featuring instrumentalists from the symphony. And yes, it includes some classical pieces — some familiar, some not so much — yet it also includes some pieces that are more recognizable.

Rogers tries to make his questions challenging enough that the game is competitive, but not so difficult that no one can ever get them right.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s easy, but it’s medium to medium-hard,” he says. “There are questions you don’t know you know. You’re not going to leave helpless or hopeless that you don’t know anything. But it’s not a cakewalk.”

Plus, to make it a little more fun — and to raise a little cash, as it is a fundraiser — teams can purchase hints or mulligans, which can be used if a team can’t decide between two answers.

If you plan to put together a team, and you want to seriously vie for the title, make sure you find people with specialties in different areas: movies, sports, literature, music, history, science — the basic Trivial Pursuit areas. And you’ll want a good team name. For the LSO event, team names are often puns on music — Oboe You Didn’t, for example. They’re often clever, sometimes political and, well, some are unprintable.

Teams return to defend their titles, Rogers says. And it’s a fun evening. Even people who don’t win have a great time. Plus, he says, you never know when you might have that one bit of knowledge that can help your team win.

So, if you plan to play, brush up on famous golf nicknames, Oscar-winning actors and Nobel prize winners.

And NASCAR. That category has been in the audience choice since Rogers’ first Trivia Night and has yet to be chosen.

Here are other trivia nights

There are plenty of places to find Trivia Nights in the area. Most offer prizes to the top-finishing teams.

Mondays

8 p.m.

Digby’s Pub, 133 N. Fourth St., Lafayette

Tuesdays

7:30 p.m.

6th Street Dive Bar, 827 N. Sixth St., Lafayette

9 p.m.

Jake’s Roadhouse

Chauncey Hill Mall

7 p.m.

Brokerage Brewing Company

2516 Covington St., WL

Wednesday

7 p.m.

Walt’s Pub and Grill

1050 Kalberer Road, WL

8 p.m.

Professor Joe’s

648 Main St., Lafayette

At Professor Joe’s, players get to weight their answers, giving themselves more points for answers they are certain of. The evenings are often themed, such as “Seinfeld” or “Stranger Things” trivia. Upcoming nights include “That ’70s Show” Aug. 3, “Star Wars” Aug. 10, and “Back to the Future” Aug. 17.